Western New York’s football faithful are no strangers to the threat — and, too frequently, the reality — of having to forgo watching their Buffalo Bills on television. Thanks to outdated and unfair blackout rules, any home game that isn’t sold out within 72 hours of kickoff can be pulled from the airwaves. It is long past time this fan-unfriendly policy was given the boot.

The nearly 40-year-old rule, intended to ensure National Football League venues are chock full, is an unnecessary vestige of an era before the sport’s popularity soared. And it is particularly unfair in western New York, where the population is stagnant, the stadium is larger than average and a playoff-caliber team hasn’t hiked a ball in 14 seasons.

Fans continue to flock to 73,000-plus seat Ralph Wilson Stadium, but sell-outs are not a given. There have been six blacked-out games in the past three seasons — and there would have been two more had not the late Ralph Wilson bought up unsold tickets twice last year.

Blackouts are a slap in the face to taxpayers who help fund the very venues from which broadcasts are squelched. At the Ralph, for example, more than $90 million of this year’s $130 million in renovations came from the state and Erie County. And there’s talk of building a new stadium to keep the team in town once it is sold.

Lawmakers like Arizona’s Sen. John McCain and Buffalo-area Rep. Brian Higgins have been pressing the Federal Communications Commission to reverse the blackout rule and there’s evidence they’re being heard. FCC Commissioner Ajit Pai was in Buffalo Tuesday to proclaim his support for the policy change. The full five-member board is expected to vote this fall. Pai must make his case strongly to fellow members.

Ultimately, however, the league itself must rescind its blackout policy. The FCC rule change would provide much-needed pressure on stubborn NFL leadership, which has gone as far as to suggest the FCC move could endanger its contracts with network broadcasters and result in fewer games being televised.

The FCC must, as Pai said Tuesday, “serve the public interest, not the private interests of team owners.” And if the FCC vote doesn’t compel NFL action, Higgins must move forward with his bill to end the league’s antitrust exemptions, which, among other benefits, allow the blackouts.

Western New York football fans have long been supportive of their NFL team. It’s time the NFL return the favor.